Democrats Call for Hearings on White Racist Terror

July 3, 2015 by Chip Berlet

A group of Democrats have called for Congressional Hearings on White Racist terrorism and violence. Such hearings are long overdue, but our concern here at the Defending Dissent Foundation is that previous hearings on similar topics have produced little serious information to help a legislative agenda–and much political posturing. Often the issue of civil liberties is shunted aside. Also, for many hearings, the witness list has not included the most respected social scientists who study these groups and their motivations. Instead a series of institutional representatives have played a key role in setting the Congressional Hearings’ agendas. While these watchdog groups collect copious amounts of data and publish professional reports–they all come with a specific ideological and political agenda. We will keep you up-to-date as this story develops.